Anisotropic magnetohydrodynamic turbulence driven by parametric decay instability: the onset of phase mixing and Alfvén wave turbulence

Abstract

We conduct a three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation of the parametric decay instability of Alfvén waves and resultant compressible MHD turbulence, which is likely to develop in the solar wind acceleration region. Because of the presence of the mean magnetic field, the nonlinear stage is characterized by filament-like structuring and anisotropic cascading. By calculating the timescales of phase mixing and the evolution of Alfvén wave turbulence, we have found that the early nonlinear stage is dominated by phase mixing, while the later phase is dominated by imbalanced Alfvén wave turbulence. Our results indicate that the regions in the solar atmosphere with large density fluctuation, such as the coronal bottom and wind acceleration region, are heated by phase-mixed Alfvén waves, while the other regions are heated by Alfvén wave turbulence.

Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters

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Cited by in corpus (11)

• The multi-scale nature of the solar wind
• MHD Waves in open coronal structures
• Three-dimensional simulation of the fast solar wind driven by compressible magnetohydrodynamic turbulence
• Probing the physics of the solar atmosphere with the Multi-slit Solar Explorer (MUSE): I. Coronal Heating
• Stirring the Base of the Solar Wind: On Heat Transfer and Vortex Formation
• Full compressible 3D magnetohydrodynamic simulation of solar wind
• Wave pressure and energy cascade rate of kink waves computed with Elsasser variables
• Three-dimensional simulations of the inhomogeneous Low Solar Wind
• Phase mixing and the 1/f spectrum in the solar wind
• Inverse cascade and magnetic vortices in kinetic Alfvén-wave turbulence
• Parametric instability of Alfvén wave packets